For background: The firm I work for is a Civil 3D shop (except for a small amount of work completed in Microstation when absolutely necessary). Our senior technician is very adept with Civil 3D, and happy as such.
With the impending changes to AutoDesk's licensing practices we are contemplating options, one of which is to switch to Carlson with Intellicad. One question (among many) is will we have trouble sending our drawings to the Civil Department is they stick with Civil 3D? The key concern being surface modeling. Anyone out there have such experience and if so what are your thoughts?
Thank you in advance!
LandXML is your friend. I have the option of using Civil 3D or Carlson and prefer Carlson. When I have to transmit data to the engineering staff, I save the drawing with a name that includes C3D. I export the surface and alignments using LandXML and points with notes/attributes as a CSV. I then open the drawing in Civil 3D and import the LandXML files and the points. They haven't been able to tell the difference.
ssorcbor, post: 441038, member: 1963 wrote: LandXML is your friend. I have the option of using Civil 3D or Carlson and prefer Carlson. When I have to transmit data to the engineering staff, I save the drawing with a name that includes C3D. I export the surface and alignments using LandXML and points with notes/attributes as a CSV. I then open the drawing in Civil 3D and import the LandXML files and the points. They haven't been able to tell the difference.
+1
have done it seamlessly for years.
You can get it to work, but as ssorcbor mentioned....it takes some converting, exporting, importing, etc, but nothing really complicated.
The only downside is the editing a surface (adding new topo, revising existing topo, that kind of stuff) that was imported with xml can sometimes be a pain.
It's not always, but it can be glitchy and difficult to merge them - this experience probably varies wildy from user to user.
Just something to keep in mind.
It doesn't have to be a problem at all. It's more of an attitude than specific issues.
I don't use C3D, so I can't speak to surface/contouring difficulties. I've sent xml before, and it seems that some people can use it fine, while others complain.
I sometimes convert my points in a copied dwg to Softdesk points, for the engineers and drafters. C3D can read those.